


Comfortably Ever After

by Elfwreck



Category: Last Unicorn - Peter S. Beagle
Genre: F/M, First Time, Gift Fic, Marriage, Virginity, Yuletide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-20
Updated: 2012-12-20
Packaged: 2017-11-21 15:49:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/599492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elfwreck/pseuds/Elfwreck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kings get married; that's part of the job. Lír hadn't really thought about what that meant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Comfortably Ever After

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JessicaJones](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JessicaJones/gifts).



> One of the things I'd always wondered about _The Last Unicorn_ is what happened next; how did Lír, especially, move forward without this amazing and magical influence in his life? JessicaJones, I hope you enjoy this story of one possible beginning of his new life.
> 
> Beta by the wonderful [S], who pointed out unwanted anachronisms and helped fine-tune the story.

King Lír was returning to Hagsgate town when Princess Alison Jocelyn, daughter to good King Giles, rode up to him on Schmendrick's horse. At first he thought she had stolen it, and then realized that nobody could easily steal a wizard's horse, and certainly not this bedraggled woman in rags that were once royal finery.

Recognizing at once the essential nature of her plight, if not its details, he swept her up onto his horse, got a general sense of the direction of her problems, and set off to fix them. In short order an evil duke had been dispatched, his son banished to spend a few years with the cowherds, and former Prince Corin established as the new king of the land that neighbored Lír's.

In his zeal for righting wrongs and succoring damsels in distress, Lír hardly noticed that he'd managed to get himself married to the girl.

It was, everyone agreed, a fine marriage: she, a beautiful princess with no dowry to speak of (the aforementioned evil duke had squandered most of the wealth of the kingdom) but many strong family ties; he, a young orphan king who ruled a land recovering from long blight, full of promise and hope. A young royal couple was just the thing to inspire the peasantry and bring good trade between the two lands.

Everyone said so. Well, almost everyone. Lír was rather quiet about the whole affair, but Alison Jocelyn (Ali Jo to her friends) only thought that made him more mysterious and debonair. Certainly he never said he _didn't_ want to marry (her), and he was a king, so if he had objections, surely he would have made them known.

When he did not share her bed on their wedding night, she believed him exhausted by the revelries, as she was. When he did not seek her out for the days after, she believed him remarkably compassionate, and fell in love with him all the more. When he did not seek her out for the next two weeks, she believed him wise to women's cycles, and either very considerate indeed or perhaps somewhat squeamish, either of which would be fine with her; she'd had her fill of men who claimed to never be shocked or dismayed by anything, and often felt compelled to prove it by wallowing in the most loathsome of materials. Then they were traveling to Hagsgate, and she was relieved he did not deflower her in a bumpy carriage surrounded by guardsmen.

By the seventh week after her marriage, she suspected he was a eunuch, or a lover of men, and came to him in tears.

"My Lord, have I offended thee?" she cried out, standing before him in his map room, where he usually spent his evenings.

He looked up from the table where he was carefully marking the most recent reports of out-of-season flowers, which seemed to be the best way to track unicorns. Seeing her distress, he walked over to her and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Of course not! You have been nothing but polite since I've known you!"

"But you have not known me!" she almost wailed, shaking in his grip.

"Pardon? I mean, I know we haven't been acquainted long, but…"

"You have not… _known_ me," she said with peculiar intensity, hanging her head and blushing.

"Not 'known'...? Oh. _Oh!_ " It was Lír's turn to blush, just a bit, as her meaning sunk in. "I haven't... we haven't... well. Um. Things have been... busy." His voice trailed off.

It's not that he hadn't intended to, well, um, but the wedding had happened so fast, and then there were all those treaties and all that jousting, and packing, and traveling, and then he was home (or somewhere home-like; Hagsgate was never much of a home, but the Tower hadn't been much better), and reports kept pouring in about strange events and unusual sightings, and it wasn't like he could just _forget_...

With a pang, he brought his attention back to the present. Heroes did not spend their time grieving over their losses, not when a bona-fide Damsel In Distress was before them. Especially not when the hero had unwittingly caused the distress.

"I... thought you might not want to be rushed?" he ventured. The only other woman he'd ever really thought about certainly hadn't wanted to be rushed.

She looked up at him, searching his face for signs of dishonesty, for some indication that he was avoiding her for some unsavory reason. She didn't find any. "I hope to be a good wife to you," she whispered.

"I'm sure you will be!" he said immediately. "I mean, you are. A very good wife! You've been very... attentive," he finished, not being sure exactly what a good wife _did_ , other than be pretty (she was), not interfere (she didn't), and raise children (oh).

"I suppose I haven't been a very good husband to you."

"Oh no, my lord! You've been wonderful! You have been as brave, and handsome, and courageous as any woman could want!" Ali Jo was perhaps also a bit vague on the responsibilities of wedlock. But she was sure that King Lír was an excellent husband, for all her few weeks of experience with the state of marriage; now that she'd realized he was just distracted by sorrows and not averse to her company... well. She'd never paid much attention to the talk of servant-women about 'how to attract a man's interest'--she'd always had rather the opposite problem--but she did know such methods existed, and she could set herself to learn them.

"I have been... remiss," he continued. "I suffered... a loss, not long ago, and it has quite distracted me."

"Yes, the Tower collapsed, and your father died, and even if he was as..." she didn't want to say _mean_ or _cruel_ "...harsh as some people say, he must've been important to you."

"No, he, well, um," Lír wasn't sure how to take that. "Yes. Perhaps. And um. Well." So much for all his practice with poetry. Perhaps it was just as well that he stick to fighting ogres and defeating murderous nobles in the future. "Ah. But that's all in the past," and he winced, hard.

"Oh! I did not mean to cause you grief! I can... I can wait longer, if need be. You must think me a horrible strumpet, to approach you so brazenly!" She turned to pull away from him.

He pulled her closer, and wrapped his arms around her. "Never!" Such bravery she must have, to confront him, a near stranger, and remind him of his duties. Which, he gathered, were supposed to be rather _pleasant_ duties for the man, although recollections from women were rather more mixed. However, the few hints he'd picked up from Molly during his conversations with her indicated that a man who was careful could bring pleasure as well as taking it. He hugged this woman--his wife, he realized suddenly, and his queen--and vowed that he would strive to be the husband and king she deserved.

He could hardly live the rest of his life pining for a love that could never return. Someday, perhaps, he'd tell Alison about how he came to be a hero, and a king; for now, he would take her to be his wife in truth, not just in name, and take comfort in the touch of a woman who cared for him.

He led her out of the map room and into their bed. He undressed her slowly, reverently, unsure of his welcome; her shy smiles were an unexpected delight. As he removed his garments, her breath caught and her eyes grew wide, but she didn't seem afraid, so he continued.

Alison had never seen a naked man before. The scars he'd won during his battles intrigued her, and she trailed her fingertips over his chest, down his hips, touching the pale lines that marked his valour. When he responded to her gentle questing, she set aside her trepidation--her husband had been so brave; surely she could accept this coupling with some grace. As he explored her body with his (strong, firm) hands, her own interest grew, filling her with warmth and wonder.

With curiosity, respect and courtesy, they enjoyed each others' touches until they merged in surprised pleasure, sealing their legal ties with union of their bodies. Lír clung to the pure physical reality of the woman in his arms, reveling in the intensity of the tremors that shook him, pulling her close to share his release. Eventually, he would come to love her; for now, he would enjoy her company, and try to make sure she enjoyed his.


End file.
